One Gypsy Man The heat was so great that I sat down to rest And watched as mankind was put to the test A gypsy approached, barely able to walk He staggered and moaned, unable to talk. Filthy and starving and bronzed by the sun Scarred by the world and by the world shunned- Our eyes met […]
A Little on the Soul Periodically one has a soul. Nobody has it all the time and forever. Day after day, year after year can pass without it. Sometimes only in rapture and in fears of childhood it dwells within longer. Sometimes only in the astonishment, that we have become old. It rarely assists us […]
Whatever the Journey, Whatever the Road My hand is upon you, As you well know. I walk with you daily, In the sand and the snow. Together we are bound, For the journey you take. To serve My Father In this place. Days will come, When life will be hard. And others shall be As […]
Gifts The gifts He gave me, I thought were me. I was them, they were mine. I used them, enjoyed them, Ignored, and wasted them. Some I squandered. A gift that blossomed, It was my planting! A gift that bore fruit, It was my growing! No thought of giving them. No thought of sharing them […]
With You in Mind Still unfolding in Time, God built the Universe With you in mind. Matter abounds in precise measure, Yet only mind cares To count the treasure. The Nature of Reality Weighs only upon Man. Mind, immaterial, Counts on Science to understand. But mensuration once obtained Must be thought to think things through, […]
Having recently been divinely schooled on this very topic, I thought I might share the lesson I believe the Lord is trying to teach me. Perhaps some, less dense than myself, will pick up a valuable nugget for their own spiritual lives. As with most petitionary prayers, it began with a need. For us, it […]
The Sign of the Cross Whenever across this sinful flesh of mine I draw the Holy Sign, All good thoughts stir within me, and renew Their slumbering strength divine; Till there springs up a courage high and true To suffer and to do. And who shall say, but hateful spirits around, For their brief hour […]
I’m Doing the Best I Can I say it so often, “I am doing the best I can do.” My heart breaks, For I desire to do all for You, Yet, I am full of myself, And You seem silent. I am still of the earth And aspire to heaven. I am so common, Yet […]
Rising Guilty, condemned, Innocent of all, Now with this cross I fall. Mother, Simon, Veronica gone, Now uphill I tread on . Cut, Torn, Stripped, nailed, Now forgiving I will not fail. Hold, Behold, Mother, son. Now, Father, Thy will be done. Kingdom, Glory, Cross, crown, Now to sleep I lay me down. Love lives, […]
Ah, the autumn is upon us. College campuses are buzzing with activity — as college kids and their parents rack up massive debt to cover the cost of high tuition. The origin of such debt is interesting to trace. In 1987, reports Slate, President Reagan’s secretary of Education, Bill Bennett, published a New York Times […]
Eve ‘While I sit at the door Sick to gaze within Mine eye weepeth sore For sorrow and sin: As a tree my sin stands To darken all lands; Death is the fruit it bore. ‘How have Eden bowers grown Without Adam to bend them! How have Eden flowers blown Squandering their sweet breath Without […]
Part Four: Time and Eternity XVI THE CLOUDS their backs together laid, The north begun to push, The forests galloped till they fell, The lightning skipped like mice; The thunder crumbled like a stuff— How good to be safe in tombs, Where nature’s temper cannot reach, Nor vengeance ever comes! Emily Dickinson
Godzilla’s Parents It was a lizard’s DNA Invigorated by an A- Bomb test and grown a size so huge There could be from it no refuge A beast emerging from the sea Supercharged at Bikini, An accident without designer, No thanks to Teller, Oppenheimer I saw it on a movie screen, The biggest lizard ever […]
Friends One Flesh Everyone needs someone to say always forever. Everyone needs someone to say never alone. Everyone needs someone to say here together. Everyone needs someone to say this is home. I’ll be that someone who tells you forever, That someone who sees you’re never alone. That someone who says here now together, That […]
Count the Cost …It’s so easy to guard myself from the essence of sacrifice And play the same mind game and do just enough to get by But that’s not what it is to be great, it’s not what it is to be a saint I don’t want to be dead bones in a box, […]
All You Have Given Me I love You, Lord. You embrace me In our communion Of Eucharist. I believe in Your love For the sinner. I am that sinner. You come to me. I am empty and poor, Yet, You make My poverty Your paradise. Here I bring to You All You have given me. […]
“…Now more than ever we Christians must choose Will we ignite the light from the wick in our lives And fight for what’s right? Or let the enemies plight for an everlasting night Wreak fright through our demise…”
Wondrous Wind and Waltzing Trees Wondrous wind and waltzing trees, Look what the Lord has given me. The beauty of the dance, In the trees He grows. And the soft silent wind That rustles the leaves. What a gift, He has given me. This among so many, He has placed in my path. So I […]
Daddy By ten, I thought “paranoid schizophrenic” meant “father”. And “son” came to mean surviving. But as I got older, there was power in saying words That made the scar on your forehead flame red. But sometimes I felt moments of goodness. I was your son. You demanded I look at you and not cry […]
Wisdom, Come Wisdom, come sit beside me. Come, quiet my soul with Your whisper of peace. Come, with heavenly companionship. Come and remain, all my life long. Wisdom, come here beside me. Copyright 2015 Joann Nelander
The Gardener Never covered in winter Never watered But for the whims of chance clouds Never fed But by the searching’s of desperate roots No cultured rose is this And yet And yes This one is exquisite Let us bring it To our gardens Giving color Where before was only cultured foliage We will find […]
In Pilsen Snow, Philip C. Kolin has written a collection of poems that share his stories of growing up as one of many Czeck immigrants in Pilsen: a neighborhood located on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. I have had the privilege of reading Kolin’s poems over the years. His are of a standard that many, including myself, aim to achieve. It […]
In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself The buzzard never says it is to blame. The panther wouldn’t know what scruples mean. When the piranha strikes, it feels no shame. If snakes had hands, they’d claim their hands were clean. A jackal doesn’t understand remorse. Lions and lice don’t waver in their course. Why should […]
